What Would W. Do?

It's been almost a year now, and I hate to say it; but not much has changed.

President Obama may have accomplished more in the past year than most of the presidents before him have in the past 50 years. However, nothing has really changed.

We're at war on three fronts now (add Pakistan).

The bailout has reached treasury busting proportions ($14 Trillion at last count).

And our government is still dragging its feet on climate change issues.

It's starting to look like the only real difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is merely on distractions – such as abortion and gay rights. (Apparently, there will always be a few sell-out Democrats who will temporarily join the Republican party if the money is good enough.)

The health care bill has been watered down so bad that there is no public option left.

There still are no new regulations on the banks gambling with our money (which led to the financial meltdown in the first place). And what “laws” that may pass will be so watered down it won't likely make a difference.

Congress, especially Republicans, have embraced capitalism so much that they are willing to sell their votes – wholesale.

America is looking less and less like a democracy and more and more like a corporatocracy.

And our biggest disappointment? Barack Obama hasn't been the president we had hoped for. As Naomi Klein pointed out in her article No Opportunity Too Big To Blow; the stimulus package could have been a green “New Deal,” the auto bailouts could have been an opportunity to dramatically re-engineer the failing industry for a green economy, and the bank bailouts could have been an opportunity to mandate the banks make loans to green industries.

Barack Obama is at serious risk of losing the support of those who elected him. We're beginning to lose faith. This president came to power with a clear mandate. And the Democrats have a super-majority in Congress.

Allow me to quote Barack Obama, candidate; “ENOUGH!!!”

It's time to fix things.

It's time to fix our political process.

It's time to get big money out of politics.

Unfortunately, it may already be too late for America. Our political system has been gutted. Our economy has been gutted. Our future is in the process of being gutted. (Hey, that's all that's left.)

It is a sad day when someone like Venezuela's communist leader, Hugo Chavez, makes more sense than our own president. But Hugo Chavez was right when he said that “if the climate was a capitalist bank, the rich governments would have saved it.” (Of course, communism isn't likely the answer either. Communist China is as much at fault for the collapse of the Copenhagen talks as the US.)

We've been living in a dream world – ignoring the real world. The real world isn't about lobbyists and loopholes. The real world isn't on TV. If you want to see the real world, go outside. The real world is the air we breath, the food we eat, and the water we drink. We've been neglecting the real world.

If ever there were a system too big to fail, it would be our ecosystem.

...If, or at the rate we are going, when our ecosystem fails; our dream world will collapse – and it won't matter whether you're a king or a pawn. No lobbyist will save you. And your TV will go blank. Nobody... nobody wants this. It's time to wake up and smell the air pollution. That's not normal. And it should not be acceptable.

To save our ecosystem, we must first save our country.

Because without rule of law, we are left with the law of the jungle.

And the first law of this man-made jungle is to make more money now – at any cost – ANY cost.

An old communist phrase once said; a capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with. Let's not make that saying true.